Insidious: Chapter 2

Insidious: Chapter 2 picks up right where the first one left off.  As in literally the minute after the first movie's ending.  There's an extremely brief recap of events, but if you're wanting to watch the sequel and haven't seen the original, go watch it.

Now that you've watched the first movie, we can get into Chapter 2.  The plot is basic sequel fare.  The same story as the first but bigger.  The family is still dealing with possession and ghosts.  There's also another climatic rescue mission into the Further.

Insidious 2 is a much more consistent film than the original.  This is both a good thing and a bad thing.  It's good in that the film never suffers from tonal issues in the third act like the first movie.  But this new film also lacks the gleeful insanity of the first movie's climax. 

 

Both of the Insidious films are ridiculously low budget ($1.5 million for the first and $5 million for the sequel), but this has never hindered the writing/directing team of James Wan and Leigh Whannell.  In fact, the two movies of theirs that have $20 million budgets are their worst movies (I still like Dead Silence though).  But Insidious 2 lacks the charm of low budget horror.  In the first movie, the Further is just a black room and people in costumes jump out at the main character and make scary noises.  It's cheap and wacky and, most importantly, fun.  In the sequel, it feels as if the director's experience with The Conjuring (great movie) stripped Insidious of its fun.  The Conjuring is by no means big budget ($20 million) but that's a lot for a filmmaker like James Wan.  He was able to make a more refined picture.  When he came back to Insidious, he still wanted a refined, Hollywood horror film.  The result is a movie that looks great for its budget, but fails to have that little something extra that makes it stand out.

 

It is a creepy movie though and has some really good scares.  Wan is a master of creating a spooky atmosphere.  There's a constant sense of dread that permeates the film.  Nothing keeps you on edge like the feeling that anything could happen at anytime.  There's a scene where Barbara Hershey wanders through the house turning on the lights and the scene gets scarier with every light that she turns on.  It's a total subversion of the fear of the dark.  Wan creates moments where the lights create unnerving shadows and we start wondering whether we really want to see what's out there in the dark.  It's genius-level filmmaking.

 

The cast is superb.  Patrick Wilson is always great.  Rose Byrne gets to take a more central role in the sequel and that only helps the film.  Barbara Hershey is also excellent.  Hershey and Byrne are especially good at conveying fear and that helps drive the sense of danger.  The really great new castings in Insidious 2 are the younger versions of Barbara Hershey and Lin Shaye.  Shaye's Elise is portrayed by Lindsay Seim, who hasn't really been in anything noteworthy but the resemblance is uncanny.  For Barbara Hershey, they cast Jocelin Donahue.  When I watched her in The House of the Devil (available on Netflix and Hulu Plus), all I could think was, "This gal looks like a young Barbara Hershey."  Seems like I wasn't the only one who thought that.

 

Insidious: Chapter 2 is worth a watch.  It's not the strongest horror film, but it's better than most mainstream stuff.  I really liked how it feels like a conglomeration of classic horror films.  You'll find traces of The Exorcist, Poltergeist, The Shining, and The Amityville Horror (for starters) all over this movie.  So, turn off the lights (for maximum effect) and fire up the TV.  This movie will give you some quality scares but it won't stay with you.

 

6 out of 10